Meet Iceland's pioneering pair team

August 31, 2025
By Reut Golinsky
Photo © Reut Golinsky, Eva Maria Jangbro (EMJO)

Júlía Sylvía Gunnarsdóttir and Manuel Piazza made a splash at the European Championships in Tallinn. Their pairing is unique: she's Icelandic, he's Italian, and she had only switched to pair skating last summer. They train between two very different worlds - Bergamo, Italy, with its strong pairs skating tradition, and Reykjavik, Iceland, a small but growing community where pairs skating is still new. We spoke with them and their coach, Benjamin Naggiar, right after their European debut.

Let's start from the very beginning. Benjamin, you were initially Júlía's coach, and you coach in Iceland. But you also come to Bergamo, where Manuel was initially training, right?

Benjamin: Yes. I was a pair skater competing for Italy. I retired quite early and began coaching over nine years ago. I traveled around a bit and eventually found myself in Iceland. I saw a lot of opportunities to grow a project in a smaller country, and starting this initiative really interested me as a young coach. That's where I met Júlía in 2021. She was a single skater at the club, and we started working together.

During the summer, I always looked for camps and places to train. Knowing the coaches back in Bergamo, who had been my coaches too, and that this place was one of the ICU Centers of Excellence made it a great choice for training. So, we started coming to Bergamo over the summer. After two summers there, Júlía began to look around, saw some pair skaters-and since she knew I had been a pair skater before-she started saying, "Oh, that looks really cool! That would be so fun!"

Júlía: The first year, I thought, wow, this is scary. The second year, I wanted to try it myself!

Benjamin: I kind of dismissed this at first, but I kept it in the back of my mind. I thought it could be a good option, but I also knew it would be a long process and take a lot of guts-which we know now she had! However, I thought we still needed to work on some things before trying to move into pairs. Then the opportunity arose when I heard that Manuel was looking for a partner. I happened to be in Bergamo at the time and was talking to the coaches, who asked me if I might know someone. So, I said to Júlía, "We can try to do something fun. Do you want to give it a shot? How do you feel about going back to Italy in a few days for a tryout? In pairs!" And that's how it all started.

So when was it exactly?

Manuel: In June 2024 we started talking about it, and the first week of July she came to Italy to start this project together.

IceLab has experience taking singles and helping them transition to pairs. Like with Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii, for example.

Benjamin: ...or Lucrezia and Matteo. (Beccari/Guarise)

Yes, right. But did you have experience coaching pairs before, or did you coach singles most of this time until now?

Benjamin: For me, this is basically going back to my roots-returning to pairs skating. Pair skating has always been my dream as a coach. But it requires specific conditions, and it's not easy to start a pairs' project. In Iceland, there really aren't any boys and men skating, so it wasn't really possible there.

So Júlía and Manuel are the first pair ever to represent Iceland?

Benjamin: Yes, the first pair ever to represent Iceland internationally.

Is it hard to be the first? Or do you think, "Well, we're the first, so whatever we do is good enough," or do you feel a responsibility?

Júlía: For me, it's kind of neither. Since there's no pressure from previous results, that can be freeing. But that doesn't mean we don't push ourselves to go above and beyond.

Manuel: I agree, it doesn't matter that much. The goals remain the same. You skate for yourself, not for anyone else. You're trying to be the best you can be. Sure, there's excitement in being first, but the most important thing is the excitement you get for yourself. That matters way more than anything else. There's good and bad in both situations, but the work we need to do remains the same. So honestly, it doesn't really matter.

How would you evaluate your performance here?

Manuel: Some of the easier elements weren't great, but that's normal early in a partnership. Usually, spins aren't an issue, but when everything is new and you try to add more elements - especially difficult ones like the twist - it's hard to keep everything together. You might nail the hard elements sometimes, but then... well, that's how it is. You learn from it and keep improving.

Talking about twists, during practice I thought it looked better than at the competition.

Manuel: We only started trying the triple twist on the ice about two weeks ago, so it's still very new. Some days it's a bit better, some days a bit worse. We are learning-that's our goal. Everything is new for us, and we're trying to get better and better. For us, the points or competition results didn't really matter. We just wanted to show what we've learned and keep building on that. The fact that we were able to perform a program of this difficulty in seven months - with Júlía never having skated pairs before - was already a win, and everything else is just a bonus.

What goals have you set for the coming months?

Benjamin: The goal now is simply to keep going, gain experience, and keep working. There are many years ahead and plenty of possibilities, so this is just the beginning.

Does the Icelandic federation support you? Do they have the means to help?

Benjamin: Of course, they're trying really hard. Imagine being a small federation in a small country-it's not easy. But they're definitely giving their utmost support. Of course, financial help is never enough; figure skating is a very expensive sport requiring a lot of commitment and sacrifice. But the federation is working hard to support us as best they can.

What do you do besides skating? Do you study or work?

Júlía: Right now I'm studying - I'm finishing college. I guess that's what you would call it in English. In Iceland, we have a bit of a different system: first to tenth grade, then an additional three years - however long it takes to finish those three years. I'm in my last year, focused on science courses, mostly biology.

Manuel: I'm in university studying Computer Science for Digital Business. It's a great online university, which works well for us skaters because it's hard to always be physically present. So I study when I'm traveling or wherever I am, and I've found a great balance with skating.

Iceland and Italy are very different-in culture, people, food, nature. Italians, tell me what you love most about Iceland, and Júlía, tell me what you love most about Italy.

Júlía: Well obviously, I love the food in Italy - it's better than back home, if I'm being honest. I also like the weather, although summers are kind of hot for me. I'm used to colder summers. But just being there in general - I really, really like it. It's so different and so new.

When you come to Bergamo, do you get a chance to travel or explore?

Júlía: Yes, I try to look around. The city itself is beautiful, and it's easy to take a train somewhere over the weekend, which you can't really do in Iceland.

And Manuel, what do you love about Iceland? How many times have you visited?

Manuel: Quite a few times since we started skating - about five times, I think. I come from the mountains, from the Dolomites, so Iceland isn't that different for me. It is still different, but in the summer it's lovely because you get sunlight all day. It's cooler; Bergamo sometimes feels like a sauna constantly. For people who like to explore nature, it's amazing. Sadly, I haven't had much chance to explore Iceland yet, but I will sooner or later. Reykjavik is nice but it's just one city. Italy has so many beautiful cities and everything is close. But Iceland is a cool country. I'm really looking forward to seeing more when I get the time.

Benjamin: I have to say, it's one of the most beautiful countries I've visited. It still has vast rural and wild nature, it's quite hard to find another country that has that. That's one of the most beautiful aspects of living there, for me. Every day the view out the window changes, and you can see stunning landscapes everywhere. That's one of the coolest things.

Thank you for this talk; it was a pleasure getting to know you better. Anything you want to add?

Benjamin: I just wanted to add that our team working with Júlía and Manuel is pretty big. The other two coaches are Rosanna Morante and Ondrej Hotarek-they work with them most of the time. To achieve what Júlía and Manuel have in such a short time, besides talent and hard work, they have excellent support from the team. Their impressive progress is a testament to the professionalism, technique, and quality of coaching at the Center of Excellence in Bergamo.

I feel really fortunate to be back working along side the coaches in Bergamo - Barbara, Rosanna and Franca were my coaches back then - and now IÂ’m their colleague. Though you always feel a bit like a student when they say something! Returning to them felt like a full circle moment. Ondrej was one of my biggest inspirations growing up; we trained at the same time, and I looked up to him. He still is an inspiration to me, now as a coach, looking at the energy he always brings to the table. And Franca Bianconi, as technical director, has done an amazing job over there to create such center.

Following a fruitful summer of work, Júlía and Manuel are set to begin their second season together on home ice at the Lombardia Trophy. It will be exciting to see how much progress they've made.